We must take care of our trails
Editor:
Summer hiking season is here. As 40-year Evergreen residents, we’ve seen the impact of increased usage on our local trails. We recently hiked a popular local trail and were dismayed at the amount of trash we found. As primary users, we must preserve our mountain pleasures for future generations.
We make it a point to carry a trash bag with us when we hike. On our recent hike, we picked up more than half a bag of discarded food wrappers, tissues, water bottles, chewing gum and cigarette butts (It’s hard to believe that someone would think to smoke and then discard cigarette butts in our tinder-dry forest!). All this on a two-mile hike!
And then, dogs. Over the years, we’ve seen increasingly adverse interactions with hikers and dog owners. I will gladly acknowledge that the majority of dog owners responsibly follow leash and poop pick-up requirements.
Unfortunately, some dog owners feel their domesticated pooch is “born to run free.”
Sound reasons for keeping Fido tethered are numerous and for the benefit of all. Dogs are required to be leashed in public parks, trails, Forest Service land and wilderness areas. Not doing so can result in an injured human, dog or wildlife, damaged terrain, or a monetary fine.
Quite simply, poop is problematic. We recently encountered a half dozen neatly wrapped “packages” left along the trailside. While I applaud the owners’ apparent intention of retrieving their poop package on the return trip, apparently those bags left behind trees, in the midst of bushes and even under rocks were too difficult to locate.
Some had been trailside for months, still waiting to be “found.” For those owners who do pick up on the return trip, I offer that leaving colorful bags of poop trailside detracts from the aesthetic beauty of the outdoors for hikers behind you. Please consider picking up as they are generated and carrying them with you.
Most disappointing on our last hike was the discovery of a “pre-hike doggie defecation area” just 20 feet off the trail. This sad little area was littered with years of dog feces and bagged specimens. If ever there was a poster-child for how domesticated dog feces is harmful to the environment, this was living (or dying) proof.
We who enjoy the outdoor splendor are prime candidates for preserving it. We “pack out more than we pack in,” and we encourage you to do the same.
Be a steward of the environment: Carry a trash bag and pick up debris when you see it. No bag? Ask a responsible dog owner: they have extras! Set an example, and go take a hike!
Tamara and Chuck Smith
Evergreen
School district should have done something sooner
Editor:
Let me get this straight: Despite more than three years of well-documented performance-related issues during which he was moved from principal to assistant principal (during the school year, with no notice to parents) and then to athletic director, Ryan Alsup wasn’t dismissed from his position until he basically ignored a substance-abuse incident and then tried to cover up his improper handling of it.
Even then, Jeffco permitted Mr. Alsup to resign rather than be fired, and EHS agreed to wait until after graduation to announce his replacement. To top it all off, Jeffco will allow him to take a teaching position. Can this possibly be serious?
Mr. Alsup would have been dismissed from a private sector job two years ago. What kind of system exists in the Jeffco Public Schools that would permit this to go on for three years, shifting someone from position to position, and then bending over backward to prevent disclosure, while many of the excellent teachers at EHS have to hold multiple jobs to earn a decent living?
It appears that the internal administration at EHS is also in disarray in that there is a lack of communication among the various administrators and a lack of awareness about how things are being handled. Information about these types of incidents spreads immediately, yet the EHS principal knew nothing for almost two weeks.
Isn’t it his job to know what is going on in the athletic department and in the school in general? Per your previous reporting over the past eight months, there have been departures under contentious circumstances of the girls softball coach, the boys football coach and the boys basketball coach, and the boys soccer coach has been sanctioned by CHSAA for inappropriate behavior. What is going on inside of EHS athletic department?
The one thing that the article did not mention was the impact of all of this on the students, who are the people who are supposed to be served by the school. As soon as it became apparent that Mr. Alsup was not adequately performing his job (which seems to be at least two years prior to his dismissal), Jeffco Public Schools and the other EHS administrators should have immediately stepped up to make sure that the interests of the students were protected. That clearly did not happen given the issues that have occurred in the athletic department and the substantial length of time it took to address this situation.
Instead, the main focus appears to be protection of jobs and reputations of administrators. This shows the worst side of school bureaucracy. Of course, through all of this, the taxpayers footed the bill, and the kids paid the price. Shame on all of them.
Michelle Therese Garcia
Golden
Support Weiser for attorney general
Editor:
I’m a former, longtime resident of Evergreen, now living in Silverthorne, and I’m concerned about protecting our environment from those in Washington who haven’t a clue. That’s why I’m supporting Phil Weiser for Colorado attorney general. Phil cares about all of Colorado and is the only candidate who has visited all 64 counties to listen to what is most important to the people who live there.
Attorney general is a very important position. As Phil puts it, he is our lawyer. Phil is interested in protecting the rights of all Coloradoans from Trump executive orders on a full range of issues, including DACA, Scott Pruitt’s ending of key environmental protections and FCC’s ending of net neutrality.
Phil also has great credentials to be our next attorney gteneral. He was a law clerk for Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court, worked in the Justice Department during President Obama’s administration and is former dean of the University of Colorado Law School.
I was particularly impressed with how personable he is, and how knowledgeable and passionate he is about standing up to the Trump administration and protecting our environment and civil rights. Please join me and vote for Phil Weiser for attorney general in the primary.
Deb Melton
Silverthorne